More than 25 men and a digger were involved in the rescue of two men whose four-wheel-drive flipped at a Taranaki race meet.

Regan Moratti and his father Arthur were co-driving the vehicle when it flipped in a stream, and they were trapped underwater.

Arthur escaped but Regan was stuck underwater until the vehicle was turned back over.

He says rolling is a common hazard, but this was easily the scariest experience he's had in a three years of race meets.