McLaren 750S supercar tested on track

This awesome machine allows car lovers to live out their Grand Prix fantasies.

Owning a McLaren 750S won’t turn you into a Formula 1 driver, but it does offer a glimpse of life as a Grand Prix star.

You have to be comfortable as the centre of attention in a car that costs $585,800 plus options and on-road costs.

The neon-coloured UFO idling away in the pit lane is not the sort of vehicle that will make a stealthy getaway.

The McLaren 750S is a wild machine.

Like Daniel Ricciardo or Oscar Piastri arriving on race day for the Australian Grand Prix, you have to be comfortable with camera phones pointed at you every time you leave the house.

Swinging a door skyward to enter the McLaren is not a subtle act, nor is a prod of the starter button that wakes a twin-turbocharged, 552kW and 800Nm 4.0-litre V8 engine.

There’s a touch of Fernando Alonso or Lewis Hamilton to the McLaren 750S.

As a mildly updated version of the McLaren 720S supercar that debuted years ago, it’s tempting to think of it as yesterday’s supercar.

Inside the McLaren 750S.

Like a senior member of the Grand Prix paddock whose best years are in the rear mirror.

That fresher, more sophisticated, hybrid-powered alternatives might be a better bet.

But I’m here to tell you this thing represents the finely distilled essence of the supercar driving experience.

If the state-of-the-art Ferrari 296 GTS is an fashionable and exquisitely crafted cocktail combining fashionable ingredients with a side of showmanship, this McLaren is a vintage single malt whisky to be savoured for years to come.

You don’t need to monitor the state of charge for the battery, twiddle knobs on the steering wheel to find the perfect setting, or muck about with traction and stability control settings.

Sure, you can firm up the suspension or loosen the stability control.

But even in comfort mode with all assistance in place, this is a car that will paint its Pirellis across the track surface before roaring down the track with unbridled ferocity.

The McLaren 750S is at home on track.

This is a sensational supercar.

It shortens straights unlike just about anything else on the road.

And it inspires confidence with wonderfully direct steering, a firm and easily modulated brake pedal, and the best outward visibility in its class.

Some of its rivals are hard to see out of, have impossibly twitchy steering, or overly complicated driving modes requiring constant thought.

But the 750S is a relatively simple device that delivers driving joy while blowing blue flames from its high-mounted exhaust.

Yes, the 750S will light up the night like an F/A-18 with afterburners lit, roaring across the landscape with a constant blue flame erupting from its tailpipes.

The 750S' exhaust blows blue flames at night.

I’ll never forget how it felt to chase a mate around the track after dark, watching the dance of its active aero, shimming rear end and glowing tailpipes on my local track.

That fire turns orange from time to time, matching the warmth of race-bred carbon ceramic brake discs.

Former F1 driver Bruno Senna says the exhaust flames are the result of the car being tuned to run a little rich, injecting more fuel than necessary to help cool a motor originally designed for IndyCar racing.

As the nephew to the great Ayrton Senna and a World Endurance Championship title winner in his own right, Bruno is racing royalty.

Strapping into the passenger seat beside him is a thrilling and heartbreaking experience.

It’s amazing to feel the full potential of one of the fastest cars on sale.

To watch a pro dance through the fearsomely fast first corner at Sydney Motorsport Park, using a dab of left foot braking to provoke a mid-corner slide that would cause a coronary event for most drivers.

But it’s also a reminder that as much as you or I can play at being a Grand Prix star, we’ll never have the extraordinary skill, bravery and finesse of an F1 star.

It’s not easy to come to terms with your limitations as a driver – particularly if you live and breathe motorsport.

No, buying a McLaren won’t turn you into an F1 hero.

But you will get a little taste of what that life might be like on the F1 grid.

Originally published as McLaren 750S supercar tested on track