Building Car Culture – The Romanian Way

Covering events can be very matter of fact; the where, when, and what of a show, track day or meeting.

But this time, I’m looking at the who and the why behind Saisho Fest Romania; still in its infancy, but making strides in Southeastern Europe’s car community.

Whether online or in person, we’ve all seen the likes of giants such as SEMA and Tokyo Auto Salon, and even grassroots coverage from car culture pillars like the US, Japan and Thailand.

But for many countries around the world, car culture exists in a completely different way, far from the royalties of Instagram likes and YouTube vlogs, a culture so niche you know a car by the town their from, not their instagram handle.

Saisho fest was started in 2023 by Tudor Triponescu – only 23 years old, at the time. Tudor had a vision to recreate Japanese style car culture in his home country of Romania, and to do this he would create the first ever festival-style car event the region had ever seen.

Like many of us, Tudor grew up reading Option Magazine and absorbing every second of Hot Version he could. Tudor explains, “I grew up playing games, watching movies, reading articles and fanboy-ing over YouTube videos. I didn’t grow up around cars…all my knowledge and inspiration came from digital sources”. 

With this inspiration, Saisho, translated directly from ‘first’ in Japanese, was born. Tudor mentions, “When I was around 15 years old, I realised what I saw online was very different from Romania’s car scene – in both good and bad ways.”

“Eight years passed, I grew up and I found myself attracted to creating this kind of event. I had no idea what I was doing, I still don’t know what I’m doing, but I’m always taking notes and trying to improve.” 

Saisho festival had humble beginnings, held on a local karting track around four hours from the capital city of Bucharest. But as Romanian car culture grew and attendance numbers followed accordingly, Tudor moved the event to its new home,Motorpark Romania, in 2025. 

As far as car culture goes, Romania’s can be considered relatively new to the world. Coming out of a long period of communism in 1989, where Dacia dominated and car ownership was scarce, Romania has had a short 36 years to catch up with a lot of the world, and wow, they’ve definitely caught up… 

Mihnea Hiru, a Saisho supporter from day one, is a brilliant example of someone who’s absorbed broader European car culture and brought it into Romania. This year in attendance with his full-carbon BMW F87 M2, fitted with an AP Racing big brake kit, Intrax Suspension and a full Chassis Kinematics Kit. Alongside it was Mihnea’s E36 drift car, taking full advantage of the weekend drift sessions. 

As Tudor explains, Romanian car culture, “…has its flaws like everywhere else on the planet, but many people just don’t know it exists. We have the racetracks and we have the cars. Many lack the right mentality and consistency to turn this around, and I think that is what Saisho actually stands for”.

The keen eyed among you may have noticed the Turnpike stickers on both the BMW M2 and the M3 Touring – both generously lent by BMW Romania for the event. Manufacturer interest in Saisho festival is a clear indicator of a growing culture and a testament to Tudor’s dedication. 

It was clear that Saisho has always been as much about bringing people from across Romania together as it has the seat time, and that’s most admirable. When being introduced to many of the drivers and attendees, Tudor would point out that they had driven well over 5 hours to be a part of the event, many even camping on site. 

Tudor’s motivation behind the event? “To put it simply, I created Saisho to put Romania, the Balkan area and Eastern Europe on the map. I feel we are often overlooked. Sure, we’re not the USA or Japan, but given how new our car culture is, I think we are making huge progress each year.” 

I can’t help but to draw comparisons between the rising car cultures in South East Asia to Romania, where year on year the communities and quality of the cars grow exponentially. This growth is often fueled by the pillars of those communities, and in this case, that pillar is Tudor and Saisho Fest. 

“I don’t intend to make Saisho commercial or business focused, I would rather keep Saisho relevant and real” 

My four short days in Romania were an absolute pleasure, reminding me how lucky I am to call meeting these people and covering this culture my ‘work’. 

Thank you Tudor, see you at Saisho 2026!