After seven years starting and finishing in Shrewsbury the rally base was moved to Oswestry. There were several reasons of the move, the main one being Shrewsbury Livestock Market had been sold for development. The British rally scene was changing and there was less need for high profile prize ceremonies in quality hotels. As an added benefit Oswestry was nearer the forests used by the rally.

The move came just in time to enable the rally organisers to trim the costs as not only were overall entry numbers reducing but the British Historic Rally Championship had a different calendar this year and the Bulldog was not on it.

So it was only 47 crews who set of for over 70 miles on the rally despite it being part of both the Peugeot 206 Cup and the Mitsubishi Evo Challenge. It was Paul Bird who led the 35 finishers back to Oswestry Livestock Market, winning the rally and claiming the MSA Gravel Championship in the process. For the first time in the rally's history there was no post event prize giving instead the awards were handed to crews as they came under the finish arch.

In the 48 mile Bulldog Clubman Rally there were a slightly more healthy 64 starters of which 51 finished. It was Jimmy Christie and David Macfadyen who led after the 4 stages in their Mitsubishi Evo.

Even with the economies it was difficult to balance the books and the organiser would have to come up with some money making initiatives for next year.