Have you ever felt that excitement when you unlock a mysterious new track in a racing game? This is exactly how the Banked Invitational, an event featuring drifting, autocross, and a car show, felt to us – in real life.
It had been a dream of mine to host an event at the RAR Centrul Tehnic Merișani in Romania. But given that the former automotive proving grounds had never been open to the public, it was never going to be an easy thing to achieve. For starters, the facility’s oval test track was closed before the internet was a part of daily life, so it’s hard to find any information about it, let alone speak to someone about the possibility of hosting an event there. But in spring 2025, that changed.
The track’s history is political, so I’ll stick to the facts and avoid rumors or unconfirmed information. It appeared sometime in the very early ‘80s, when Nicolae Ceaușescu – the former President of the Socialist Republic of Romania – decided to build a test facility for Dacias and the lesser-known ARO off-road vehicles. Its location can only be described as highly remote, hidden in the forest hills of the Arges country. After the fall of communism in 1989, the facility was sold to private owners and eventually renamed the Merisani Technical Center, with Renault building another test track in Romania for Dacia. Meanwhile, the test track remained closed to the public.
Enter Registrul Auto Roman, or RAR for short. This entity works closely with the state to ensure every vehicle entering the Romanian fleet is homologated and safe to be on the road. RAR acquired the Merisani Technical Center a few years ago. After a few meetings, they were kind enough not only to allow us to host a car event at the facility, but also to give the public a closer look at the usually closed-gate operations. From motorcycles to fire trucks – they’re all tested here.
We called the event the Banked Invitational – a fitting name, given the oval track’s banked corners, which were utilized for the show side of things. Photos really don’t do justice to the bank’s angle, which venue staff told me reaches 54°, making it one of the steepest test tracks in Europe. Spectators were free to roam the banks over both days of the event.
Meanwhile, the facility’s 8,000-square-meter skid pad was used for two purposes during Banked: autocross sessions on Saturday, and drift sessions on Sunday.
A good friend of mine who used to compete in an autocross championship in the US helped design the 137-cone autocross course that prioritized corner speed over outright acceleration, providing an even battlefield for all competitors.
I looked after the drift course design, which turned out much better than I thought it would. Before this event, I had never linked a track before – not in real life, at least. The best I could do was figure eights. With Japanese drift videos and Assetto Corsa mods in my mind, I visualized a course that included a high-speed feint entry corner, sharing similarities with Meihan C Course, Sekia Hills, and Ebisu Minami, where you have a shallow-angle bend that leads to a hairpin, with elements of a slow course that flows and has enough space for close tandems. The drift course was set up on Saturday night in the dark, based entirely on a rough sketch on my phone, so I was quite nervous about how it would turn out. But when the fog cleared on Sunday morning, and I saw all the drifters enjoying it, I breathed a huge sigh of relief. This was when a friend of mine asked if I wanted to grab a few laps driving his car – a moment I’ll never forget, as after a few tries I linked my first full course!
A lot of time and effort go into running events, and it’s easy to forget to have fun while you’re at it – something Alec reminded me of during his first encounter with Romanian car culture last August at our main event, Saisho.
For Banked, we also decided to do something special with a custom metal wide-bodied AW11 Toyota MR2, which featured in Alec’s Saisho coverage on Turnpike and was also seen at Ultrace 2025. The idea of this showcase was no coincidence at all.
It’s quite likely that Dacia tested its red MD87 mid-engine sports car concept at this track back in the late 1980s, and that prototype used some AW11 components in its design, including the rectangular taillights. Having Mihai’s red MR2 on display was a nice little Easter Egg of sorts for the community.
The Banked Invitational was something our local scene had been craving, and it was a nice way to end the 2025 summer season. It wasn’t perfect, big, or glamorous in any way, but the endless seat time and memories defined it. I think I speak for everyone involved when I say I can’t wait for the next one.
