Bulldog sponsorship and a return to Aberystwyth

After two years struggling without a major championship 1995 was a turning point. The event was invited to join the Mintex sponsored National Championship as the last round and a local sponsor, Bulldog Security Products, came on board.
Bulldog was a young company from Much Wenlock, manufacturing for the leisure and automotive trades.
It was felt necessary to find an alternative base for the event in recognition of it’s new status. After a thorough search it was decided to return to Aberystwyth, the town on the Welsh coast that had last been the base ten years previously.

It was unclear how many entries the national rally would attract and as an insurance it was decided to continue to run the two additional rallies of differing status. Harlech and District Motor Club decided it was time for the Meirion Rally to move on and an alternative National B status event was promoted by the Club itself, as a rally for Welsh clubmen.
The need for an International level event at this point in the calendar had been removed by changes within the World Championship. This was the last year that an International element of the rally would be run as an add on.

The Mintex Championship

With everything focussed on the National A status Championship event Chris Mellors and David Gillanders were tying on points to win the Mintex series. In a competitive field either driver could become champion but to do so would need an attacking run over the seventy plus miles of special stages.
At the end it was Mellors who won and took the title by over three quarters of a minute. With nine turbo, four wheel drive cars in the top ten it was becoming clear that the cost of competing at championship level was starting to spiral.