I believe that a contemporary Ramble is a rare thing. Partly this has been intentional and partly circumstance. A Ramble might well be inspired by a GP, but by the time the first draft has been finished, it's ... well ... rambled on a bit. Certainly, the final product rarely has any resemblance to the original thought that inspired the Ramble.

You might well think that, having had some time for reflection and with the start of the 1997 season, there might just be a Ramble that would reflect on the 1996 season.

Okay, to satisfy you, my thoughts on the 1996 F1 season. There were some cars, some drivers, some races, and Damon Hill and Williams won their respective titles. As a season, it was interesting. Certainly it was not the best season that I can recall, and certainly not the worst season that I can recall. End of review of the 1996 season.

What I'd really like to talk about is the result of the World Motor Sport Council meeting that was held on 6 December 1996.

While the Council's meeting covered a range of racing series, F1 received more attention in the final communique than any of the other series, and there was more fiddling with the rules.

Oh, there was the final calendar for 1997, with one GP dropped, and two new GP and one new circuit added in (Europe was dropped, Austria and Luxembourg - at Nurburgring - added in). About what was expected really, except for Luxembourg ... which is a bit of a joke, when you look at the venue. 1997 will see the twentieth Austrian GP (but the first at the A1-Ring) and the first Luxembourg GP (but the 26th at Nurburgring).

And there were some changes to the important FIA F1 staff, with Charlie Whiting becoming the Race Director and Safety Delegate, among others.

And it was good to see that the meeting decided, at long last, to introduce some measure of real stability into the rules, in one respect. Until 2006, the engine formula will remain at 3 litres.

Long-term rule stability is something that many people believe will bring the "racing" back into F1. The reason for this is that with frequent rule changes, the big-budget teams have the resources to implement a 5%, say, gain quite quickly. For the teams with lesser budgets, they will get that 5% gain, but it will take a little longer.

Meanwhile, the big boys have moved onto the next 2%, and then the next 1%, and the next 0.1%. Each of those steps, however, takes the same time and money as that big, first, 5% step. What rule stability really means is that the big teams will charge in and get big gains quickly, but then their rate of progress will slow rapidly. In the meantime, the other teams will be able to catch up, as they allocate their thinner resources to the same problems. Eventually, the other teams are only 1 or 2% behind the big teams, rather than 5 or 10%.

But, the other big changes to the rules come into effect for 1998, and will test both the teams and the tyre companies. The Council decided that dry-weather treaded tyres will be compulsory. Already I can see some loop-holes in what was announced - although we will have to wait until the official regulations come out before a final verdict.

So, taking my foot and putting it firmly into my mouth, let's have a look at the new tyre rules. Basically, there are to be 3 grooves on the front tyres and 4 grooves on the rear tyres. The grooves will be evenly-spaced around the tyre, with each groove going all the way around, tapering from 14mm wide down to 10mm at a depth of 2.5mm.

That sounds simple enough. But then there's the checking. Aha! Now then, the FIA F1 Technical Delegate (newly-appointed Jo Bauer) will be keeping an eye on these tyres and ensuring that, after they've been used, they still have at least 50% of the length of the groove left over. In case you're wondering, there is a provision for accidents which states: "...unless the absence of a groove is due solely to abnormal wear caused by damage to the car."

According to MY reading of the Technical Regulations, "the car" mentioned above includes the tyres. So, what happens if a driver (granted, an unscrupulous one) wears his tyres a bit too low by using them too hard, realises this and then deliberately does a rolling skid, right in front of a marshals' station on the warm-down lap? That's abnormal. And the tyre is part of the car. Will he be rapped on the knuckles? Why? It was, after all, "abnormal wear".

And what is to stop an unscrupulous team from quickly wheeling their car into the garage, and doing a bit of groove-cutting? The answer to this one might be fairly simple, as the tyres will probably be given the once-over at the pit-entrance checking station or in the parc ferme.

You may say that I am attributing too much nastiness to a group of basically honest, hard-working people. And you'd probably be right. But then again, think back on the percentage gains that I mentioned earlier on, when I was talking about engines.

Scrubbing the tyres, and doing a quick little bit of groove-cutting may be a very easy, and cheap, way for a team to sneak in one of those little percentages gains.

After all this, just remember one final thing. These new tyre regulations don't come into effect until the 1998 season. So we've got 12 months to argue about them ... and the powers-that-be have got 12 months to come up with a good ruling on them.

I think that we'll have plenty of argument but, in the end, the rule-makers will come up with a ruling ... that somebody will manage to "misinterpret".

But that's just me.