You probably see a frit every day and don’t even notice it. What is it? You know the black band around your car’s windshield? That’s a frit (which, by the way, can also mean ingredients used in making glass) or, sometimes, a frit band. What’s more, it probably fades out using a series of dots like a halftone image, right? Think that’s just for aesthetics? Think again.

Older windshields were not always attached firmly, leading to them popping out in accidents. At some point, though, the industry moved to polyurethane adhesives, which are superior when applied correctly. However, they often degrade from exposure to UV. That’s a problem with a windshield, which usually gets plenty of sunlight.

The answer is the frit, a ceramic-based baked-on enamel applied to both sides of the windshield’s edges, usually using silk screening. The inner part serves as a bonding point for the adhesive. However, the outer part blocks UV radiation from reaching the adhesive. Of course, it also hides the adhesive and any edges or wiring beneath it, too.

But the Dots?

What about the dots? Well, as you might expect, when the black enamel blocks UV, it turns into heat, so you now have, potentially, a hot edge and a cooler center. That’s not a good thing for glass and can cause deformation. At best, it might cause optical distortion. At worst, it might crack the glass. The dots, then, cause an even temperature gradient to form instead of a sharp transition.

This is especially important because of the way windshields are made. They start as ordinary flat glass but are placed in an oven and bent against a jig. There are usually two pieces of glass, one slightly larger than the other. Finally, the two pieces of glass are laminated together with a sheet of polyvinyl butyral — an optically clear, flexible, and sticky material that keeps the glass from shattering.

No Frit?

Some windshields have a tint in them that block UV and don’t need a frit. In addition, there are advanced adhesives that don’t need protection from UV. But for most cars, the frit is a visible reminder that someone puts a lot of thought into every piece of an automobile. Many cars now have frit behind the rearview mirror to help block sunlight in that area.

Older cars didn’t have frit bands because they used a gasket to seal out water and a metal trim plate over the edge of the windshield. That had a bad habit of letting the windshield fly free in certain kinds of accidents, though, so you won’t find that on modern cars.

Glass is one of the oldest engineered materials around. The wipers are the next thing to notice about windshields, but we’ve already talked about those.

All the best sports cars look like they’re moving when they’re just sitting there, and the lines on McLaren’s newest limited-edition plaything redefine that look of speed standing still. Maybe it’s the sneering headlights or the streamlined, reverse-1966 Batmobile styling. Whatever it is, the 804-horsepower two-seater project Elva looks like it’s leaping off the line into the future.

But this future is free from the last thing we’d expect to see removed from any vehicle, especially a $1.7 million supercar — the windshield. Now that the headphone jack has been deemed expendable, it seems that nothing is sacred. The Elva is already a permanent convertible with no windows.

Though McLaren didn’t start this weird and windowless fire, the Elva is meant to fan the flames of futurism. She joins the ranks of a few windshield-free models from Ferrari, Mercedes-Benz, and Aston Martin. In the other guy’s cars, you’ll need a helmet above 30MPH unless you love the thunderous sounds of air buffeting and blown-out hair. It’s a young idea with a few bugs to work out.

What the Elva brings to the road and track is a solution to this problem that didn’t need an answer. McLaren calls it the Active Air Management System (AAMS). Basically, the car guides air up and over the cab to create a “bubble of calm”. You can see it come to life in the wind tunnel demo embedded below. Stick around for a Top Gear tour of a model version.

Here’s how it works: when the car exceeds 30MPH, the deflector panel on the nose flips up. Air coming in the low-slung grille is angled upward inside the deflector, and as it exits, this bent air mixes with air forced up and over the deflector to create a force field around the cab. The result? A seamless sea of smeared scenery inside an air pocket that’s quiet enough for conversation, and still enough for lighting $100 cigars with ease. Smooth sailing indeed — at least until the car in front of you kicks up a pebble.

A Few Bugs to Work Out

You’re right, it is a ridiculous idea. When questioned about the consequences of bugs entering the Elva’s rarefied air, the project’s chief engineer said that ‘it depends on the mass of the bug’.

When pressed for answers about how the AAMS would deal with rocks, there was only unintelligible murmuring among the reps.

Nature isn’t the only issue here. The AAMS causes drag and balance issues, so the Elva needs an active, algorithmically-controlled rear wing to compensate. You’d never guess from the lines, though — the back end looks great in spite of (or perhaps because of) this corrective measure.

To the average, single-car owning consumer, this whole concept can seem like a maddeningly stupid waste of time and money. But let’s say you’re in league with billionaires and happen to be in the market for a new sports car. Not a daily driver, mind — you’re a billionaire, you have Jeeves to take you to stockholder meetings. This is a new toy we’re talking about. Don’t you want one that stands out from all the other rolling fortunes at the country club?

You’d better hurry, because McLaren is only making 399 of these things. And if you’re in the US, try to take delivery elsewhere, because all the Elvas headed there will have windshields.

Main image via Car and Driver

Thumbnail image via McLaren

If there’s one thing I learned about Detroit last weekend, it’s that it is freaking huge. It’s an unbelievably large city, and looking at the population numbers, you can really start to see the problem of providing city services to such a large area. With such a sparse population, it’s the ideal environment for experimentations in urban farming, after a few seasons of planting crops that will leech everything out of the soil of course.

If you have a farm, you’re going to need some means of irrigation, and you might as well throw a scarecrow in there as well, giving i3 Detroit the idea for RoboCrop, the perfect project for an urban farm or anyone who is putting on a production of The Wizard Of Oz but is a little shorthanded for a full cast.

RoboCrop is an all-in-one irrigation and bird and small mammal scaring device, controllable with webcam video streamed right to the remote. It’s a fun project, and fits right into the apparent unofficial “urban gardening” theme of this year’s Red Bull Creation.

i3 is also the largest and arguably the best equipped hackerspace in the Detroit region. They were kind enough to let us throw a little get together there last weekend where we gave away a 3D printer for The Hackaday Prize. Good times all around. We’ll have a video tour of i3 up a little bit later.