Mike Verdoner crashed down the bank with his son Jareb after his gearbox locked.
Mike Verdoner knew the Catlins Coast rally would be dangerous.
But that did not mean the Balclutha rally driver was expecting to be thrown 50m down a bank after his car missed a corner and crashed through six trees, leaving him and his son Jareb, 25, contemplating what might have been.
"I just braced myself ... and hung on," Verdoner said.
The accident happened when the car's gearbox locked as it entered a corner during the second stage of the rally on Saturday.
Verdoner said he was changing gear when the car, a custom Ford Mk II Escort, went out of control.
"We were basically passengers from then on. We never even looked like getting round the corner.
"We just disappeared straight off. We were very, very lucky.
"The car was quite badly damaged ... but we came out of it with no injuries at all, just a couple of sore necks and a couple of seatbeltgrazes."
Verdoner there was nothing he could do once the car went out of control.
Thought of serious injury, or worse, did not enter their heads during the plunge.
"It all happened very quickly."
Verdoner said the course was a bit slippery in places but was not particularly dangerous.
Of more concern was that the car lost second gear about a third of the way through the first stage.
"We probably shouldn't have kept going but we thought, because we'd paid the entry money, we might as well struggle away."
Verdoner said the car looked a mess from the outside and would take some time to repair, but it was still structurally sound.
Source of the 'really unpleasant' noise has been identified, but a fix is some time away.