In rallying, the slightest misjudgement can result in disaster – just ask Kris Meeke, who recently rolled his rally car seven and a half times in a dizzying crash. Navigating a treacherous rally stage requires nerves of steel, particularly as some of them take place on high altitude courses surrounded by unforgiving cliff edges protected only by weak-looking single-metal guardrails. Competing in the FIA European Rally Championship at the Canary Isles, Tomasz Kasperczyk teared round a sharp corner too fast and slammed into the guardrail.

Thankfully for him, the guardrail was stronger than it looks and did its job, preventing the Fiesta R5 from plunging off the cliff. "I put the brake [on] but nothing happened, I had no pressure," Kasperczyk said to FIA ERC. "I am really, really lucky I don't fall down because [the drop] was really deep … the car was not like new, it was broken, but we are okay, that is the most important thing."

The impact was severe enough to bend the guardrail out of shape, leaving the car dangling precariously off the edge. Photos posted on Twitter by the FIA European Rally Championship show just how close Kasperczyk came to disaster, as two wheels were dangling dangerously off the cliff edge. Fortunately, both Kasperczyk and his co-driver escaped and were unharmed in the accident. "After a few minutes, when I got out of the car, I see this hill and I was really, really scared," Kasperczyk said. Had the guardrail given way the accident would have been much more severe. It's probably safe to say you'll never doubt the strength of guardrails ever again after watching this scary close call.