It’s been a whole year since I was last in Romania, a country I never expected to find myself exploring car culture. Yet here we are for the encore – except this time, I’ve brought along a friend, colleague, and fellow Pálinka enjoyer, Dino, to join me in soaking up as much Romanian car culture as possible in just five short days.
Romanian car culture is new – very new. Like, they only started getting Toyotas in 2007 new. But as I discovered last year, one man is doing huge things for the country’s car scene. That man is Tudor Triponescu. At 24 years old, Tudor has grown up soaking in car culture from all corners of the internet, particularly the Japanese side of it, fueling an obsession to bring just a small slice of that back home. I spoke all about that with Tudor in last year’s Saisho Fest coverage, so let’s jump straight into 2026.
Dino: With Alec having attended Saisho Fest 2025, I was the Romanian car culture newbie. But even after my initial walk through the paddock, I knew I was looking at something special.
Speaking to Tudor in the lead-up to this year’s event, he was determined to share more of Romania with Dino, myself, and the world. Whether it was the car culture, food, or roads, Tudor devised a five-day Romania deep dive, which started the moment we stepped off the plane.
Just a stone’s throw from Bucharest Henri Coandă International Airport in Otopeni sits Romania’s biggest car collection, and it’s entirely open to the public. We did a quick run around the 300-plus-car Tiriac Collection – which you can see more of in the video here – before heading straight to the home of Saisho Fest: Motorpark Romania.
Saturday and Sunday were the main event. Saisho Fest was in full swing, and it was immediately apparent just how quickly Romanian car culture is developing. Tudor’s influence on the local scene has resulted in higher-quality builds, with many Romanian enthusiasts now drawing inspiration from other parts of Europe, Japan, and the US. Tudor noted, “We dialled down the number of spots across all categories to maximise the execution level of those cars, more seat-time, and a less crowded paddock.”
Dino: I’ve covered car scenes across so many countries in my career, and I’ve always enjoyed noting what people have available to them, where the inspiration comes from, and the drive that feeds it all. These are three important ingredients, but what Romania had that truly stood out was its strong family bond, friendliness, and an underlying modesty that, for me, made it all so special. I know Saisho Fest will keep growing; it’s a great little show. But most importantly, it brings like-minded people together for a fun weekend and feeds energy into what is undoubtedly a fast-emerging scene.
BMW E36 culture is strong in Romania, as it remains the easiest entry into drifting. And, like the rest of the world, drifting has a strong grip on Romanian car culture, having quickly become one of the most popular forms of local motorsport. Many familiar cars and faces returned to Sashio Fest this year, alongside plenty of new ones. Tudor noted that he had significantly increased the number of drift entries for the 2026 event.
Dmytro Illiuk returned this year in his VK56-powered Monster Energy Rocket Bunny Nissan S14. Dmytro made the drive across from Ukraine, not without some hold-up… Motorsport passion runs strong in this part of the world.
Mihnea Hiru was back in his BMW M2, this time with more power, allowing him to drop a couple of seconds from his already-fastest lap times. This year, he was joined by Adrian, his friend, mechanic, and owner of Send It Motorsport. Adrian brought along this fully restored V12 – the same V12 engine used in the Pagani Zonda – Mercedes-Benz SL600 for display over the weekend.
Earlier in the trip, Tudor introduced us to what became one of our favourite aspects of the trip: the Logan Duel. The concept is simple: acquire a 1.6L Dacia Logan, strip it, cage it, insert a seat, steering wheel, window net, coilovers, wheels and tyres, and there you have it – a ready-to-race Logan Cup car. The Logans are built for momentum, something I’m quite familiar with coming from AE86s.
Unfamiliar, however, was the side of the car I’d be sitting on when the opportunity to race a Logan on track arrived. I went head-to-head with Dino, door-to-door with a rolling start, and things went as expected: as competitive as 90hp gets. Dino got an early jump, followed by a flat-out overtake down the straight and a questionable collision at T1. Dacia Logans may be the most fun you can have for a few thousand euros.
Closing out Saisho Fest 2026, we chose a few of our favourite cars from the weekend to join us for a parade lap and photos around the track. Much like last year, this was a highlight of the event for me.
It wouldn’t be Saisho hospitality without the ultimate courtesy car. This year, we traded in the M2 and M3 Competition for the all-new BMW M5 Touring. Spending some quality time with this 2.6-tonne machine, you can only appreciate the marvel of making that much metal move that quickly. While throwing it around on the track was fun, the 727hp was put to much better use on Monday, when we ventured north.
Just a few hours’ drive from Bucharest sit the Carpathian Mountains, and cutting through them is what many consider to be the best driving road in the world: the Transfagarasan Highway. Heading up the mountain with a few cars from the event – the M5 and an Opel full of Italians from the Italian Drift Series – we got to experience not only the spectacular scenery, but also more than two dozen bears sitting by the roadside. A few ticks off the bucket list, that’s for sure.
Chatting more with Tudor, he made his intentions clear: “The vision remains the same; we want to grow the scene and put Romania on the map. It is simple but not easy, but this year we managed to stick to the plan of having three driving events throughout the year [Banked Spring Bash, Saisho Fest and World Drift Day]; it was a dream.”
Saisho Fest remains a pillar of Eastern European car culture. Events like Saisho and curators like Tudor Triponescu are helping a new culture thrive, and that is becoming more apparent year after year as quality, attendance, and enthusiasm continue to grow.
Thank you, Tudor, and the rest of the Saisho community, for your beautiful hospitality. We hope to see you all again in 2027.
