EVERY boy I know thinks it would be cool to blast to the office in a Formula 1 racing car every day, but the downsides are pretty obvious.

You’d need a team of mechanics just to start the thing for you (and good luck if you stall at the lights). A few drops of rain would see you frantically radioing for a set of wet tyres. The first speed hump you came to would bash the front wing right off. You would have to pony up for a highly-stressed new engine six times a year. 

Much better to drive something like the McLaren 750S, which somehow pulls off the feat of being both butt-clenchingly violent when you want it to be, yet utterly civilised for when you just want to listen to a podcast on your daily commute (this newspaper has some good ones).

McLaren lets you know upfront what you’re getting with the 750S – namely, 750 horsepower. On the surface, it’s an update of the 720S with (you guessed it) 30 more horsepower. But beyond that, it’s a thorough going-over of McLaren’s sharpest production model.

Michael Leiters, the CEO of McLaren Automotive, says the company examined “every detail” of the 720S and ended up changing 30 per cent of its parts. We’re talking tiny, seemingly-obsessive tweaks in places. The front springs are 2 per cent stiffer while the rears are 3 per cent softer. The front wheels are spaced 6 mm wider apart.

In its press pack, McLaren makes liberal reference to benchmarking the 750S against an unnamed competitor, but it’s obvious which car they mean. Leiters’ previous role was chief technology officer of Ferrari. He knows their cars inside-out, and now wants the 750S to tempt you from Maranello’s 296 GTB, a plug-in hybrid that leans heavily on electrification and whizz-bang tech.

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Conversely, the 750S takes a more classic route to performance, by focusing on pure combustion power and keeping weight down. At 1,277 kg, it’s a featherweight in today’s world (not to mention 193 kg lighter than the Ferrari).

For all that’s new under its skin, the cosmetic updates might need a trained eye to pick out. The 750S’ headlight sockets are narrower, the reshaped front bumper has revised air intakes, and there are now some rather fetching air vents on the front wheelarches. Changes at the rear are more dramatic, with a centre-exiting exhaust and a bigger flip-up rear wing that also doubles as an air brake – the first time it hops up and looms ominously in the rearview mirror is a moment to remember.

Changes to the interior have made it more driver-focused, with rocker switches that put the drivetrain and suspension settings at your fingertips. There’s a new button with the dramatic name of “McLaren Control Launcher” that sounds like it fires rockets at road hogs, but merely stores your favourite combination of settings so you can simply jab a finger and have the car exactly as you want it.

As before, the McLaren’s steering wheel reflects the car’s single-mindedness – it’s pleasantly devoid of buttons, in stark contrast to the incredibly cluttered, haptic-everything steering wheels that adorn today’s Ferraris.

One thing’s for sure, you’ll want to hang on tight to the wheel when you stretch your right foot. The engine is explosively powerful, and it propels the McLaren forward with so much intensity that it’s nearly enough to make your vision blurry. The rear tyres can just about cope with the raw power, and even on a dry road the 750S wants to waggle its tail when you let the roaring V8 flex its mighty muscles.

There’s a new quicker steering rack that sharpens up the car’s responses, but I honestly don’t remember the 720S having slow reflexes to begin with. Nevertheless, the 750S feels like a large go-kart to drive, with the same tendency to dance lithely with every flick of the wheel, and the same need for a strong, yet measured shove on the brake pedal.

You definitely need to know what you’re doing behind the wheel, and even then you will never, ever come close to exploring the car’s limits on a public road, so you’ll covet a 750S either because you’re a person fond of doing the odd track day, or are about to become one.

As much as the 750S feels like a car that belongs on the racing circuit, it feels just at home on Shenton Way. The engine is so brawny that it can hustle the car along with such little effort that it purrs the whole time. On its “Comfort” setting, the suspension is still firm, but not jarringly so. It’s also surprisingly easy to see out of the car, and there’s a superb 360-degree monitor to keep your palms sweat-free on carpark ramps. 

There isn’t much of a boot, but you could toss a weekend’s worth of soft luggage on the carpeted area above the engine (where an optional porthole gives you a teasing glimpse of the car’s private parts).

The 750S Spider does without that cargo area, but offers open-top glamour for an extra S$150,000. Mind you, the coupe isn’t exactly for the shy. It looks so exotic that it draws the mobile phone salute wherever it goes.

The butterfly doors add a dramatic flourish to every single outing in the 750S, too. Maybe the next best thing to driving a Formula 1 car is to tool around in something made by an F1.

McLaren 750S

Engine 3,994 cc, 32-valve, turbocharged V8 Power 750 hp at 7,500 rpm Torque 800 Nm at 5,500 rpm Gearbox Seven-speed twin-clutch automatic 0-100kmh 2.8 seconds  Top speed 332 kmh Fuel efficiency 12.1 L/100 km Agent Eurokars Supersports Pte Ltd Price S$1,398,000 without COE Available Now