Reason for the Distributor drive update?

If you mean the one described in SB 10-15:
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Go here for all three pages: http://ferrari.cdyn.com/service_bulletins/sb10-15.pdf

 

Magneti Marelli changed the plastic composition on the rotors during 4 valve production and we had nothing but trouble with insulation breakdown causing the spark being bled off into the camshaft. In typical Italian fashion instead of admitting they made the plastic cheaper everyone blamed the metal tang that held the rotor to the cam. Ferrari decided for the next generation (3.2 and TR) they would do a redesign and eliminate the metal tang and design a bolt on rotor. During dyno testing the rotors were breaking due to torsional vibration of the cams and the solidly bolted on rotors inability to deal with it. Again in typical Italian fashion the redesigned the cam extension to provide a built in vibration damper. It cured the breakage problem but in short order the rubber broke loose from the outer body and because of the hollow, pressurized cams severe oil leakage happened. It earned the TR's the name Liberian Tanker. We had jokes about TR's coming in for draining the distributor caps and check the oil. Again in typical Italian fashion the next solution was to improve the quality of the plastic and go back to solid cam extensions.


The entire affair was finally solved by doing exactly what needed to be done in the first place, improving the plastic but instead they went through redesigns, millions probably in warranty claims, many pissed off customers etc.

There are times when I swear Larry, Moe and Curley are running that company.

 

Why is that not surprising......Like I always say.....

"Where is Ferrari's test and quality assurance department located?"

(Answer) All over the world ---- only, they call it "their customer base"