Ford Fits GT350R With First Mass-Produced Carbon Fiber Wheel
What do the GT350R, the Space Shuttle, and a company in Australia have to do with each other? Carbon Fiber wheels, for the new GT350R, thats what.
The GT350R will have the honor of being the first mass produced car to be fitted with carbon fiber wheels, and some of the engineering hacks that were made in order to get there are astonishing.
Carbon fiber is generally known as strong, though quite fragile once it does finally crack, and that doesn’t quite fit with the punishment that the GT350R will dole out. That said, Australian company Carbon Revolution set out to make it stronger than ever. Ceramic plasma arc spray (same stuff NASA uses on Space Shuttle turbines) will be used on the front wheels to combat the exposure to extreme heat from the brakes and to keep the carbon fiber resin from punishing heat soak.
This turns the tide on adding lightness in auto manufacturing. An entire sixty pounds of weight was dropped with the switch to these wheels, and while Koenigsegg was indeed first to offer them on a car, Ford is the first to do so in huge quantity.
This weight drop is even more important than it first appears. With ever stringent EPA standards, engines are not going to be getting much bigger, so the best approach to going faster will be through minimum weight. Bravo to Ford for leading the way. Perhaps Ferrari might be paying attention…
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