When Ford said the 2017 GT would come with “one of the best power-to-weight ratios of any production car,” the company wasn’t kidding. For one thing, the supercar features Gorilla Glass, the damage-resistant transparent material that keeps many smartphones safe when you drop them inside the same pocket with your keys.
Of course, the Blue Oval’s main concern wasn’t people using the Ford GT at Gumball and damaging the windshield. Engineers were focused on putting the car on a diet, which they did - the supercar uses Gorilla Glass for both the windshield and the engine cover, with this saving 12 lbs (5.5 kg).
And given the positioning of the greenhouse, the measure also lowers the GT’s center of gravity. Something you want when you come up with a car that battles the Lamborghini Aventador - yes, we are referring to the GT’s rumored $400,000 price here.
As you can expect, this isn’t exactly the glass cover of your phone, being reshaped for a machine that develops north of 600 hp. Instead, Ford talks about a hybrid setup: “The new hybrid glass uses a multilayer approach – a pane of toughened automotive-grade formed hybrid acts as the strengthened inner layer, an advanced noise-absorbing thermoplastic interlayer is in the center, and an annealed glass serves as the outer layer.”
The resulting configuration is over 30 percent lighter compared to conventional panels, while also between 25 and 50 percent thinner.
The Blue Oval has worked with Corning, one of the automaker’s traditional suppliers, with the development receiving the green light within four months.
Oh, and if you happen to be left out once the drastic GT customer selection program debuts, don’t worry - the carmaker is considering using Gorilla Glass for other models in the future.
In fact, the industry has been considering this solution for some time now. Actually, BMW already uses it for the i8, but only for the rear window and not without the glass distorting the view a little. We’ll certainly see more automakers jumping on the lightweight glass bandwagon in the future.
In his quest to bring you the most impressive automotive creations, Andrei relies on learning as a superpower. There's quite a bit of room in the garage that is this aficionado's heart, so factory-condition classics and widebody contraptions with turbos poking through the hood can peacefully coexist. Full profile
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