Wow, that is a lot of info on this thread and opinion does seem to be divided.
I thought I was reasonably smart, but I would need to go through all the stats several times to get my head around it all.
Now I am preparing my car for track, all I have to go on from personal experience is that my last Mk1 had std brakes then I had braided hoses, AP Racing DOT 5.1 fluid and Mintex M1144 pads with std discs put in/on and the improvement was massive for road use, I really like those brakes.
Yes I could lock them if I was being silly on the road.
I never had any fade, but then I probably never worked them hard enough.
When I used to work just outside Milton Keynes and had to pop into MK at lunch time in my old Mk2 Golf GTI, MK roundabouts used to cause terrible fade with std GTI brakes, but I never tested the MR2 in MK.
My current set up on my SC converted Mk1 is std pads with drilled and grooved discs, but I've had the car for 2 years, the discs were on when I bought it, I've done 25k on them, the pads are cheap, the fluid is old, the hoses are rubber and the brakes are just mediocre.
Again, no particular testing done, just general feel and not confidence inspiring so have never pushed them.
Now I am preparing the car for track following the failed MOT
(Welding at the front needed and hand brake failed) I think I will stick with standard at the moment, i.e.
std discs and callipers, but upgrade the pads to DS2500 front, as I want to try them, probably another Ferrodo pad at the back because I don't think they do DS2500 rears.
And put braided hoses on and AP Racing DOT 5.1 fluid.
At least that will give me confidence on track, and If I trash the pads in a day or two on track then I can try other pads, before then deciding if I'm still happy or not and deciding then what to do about callipers and disc size.
Incidentally, last MOT my hand brake was only 2% effective and failed and I had reconditioned rear callipers from TCB Parts and brand new hand brake cables put on and set up.
Before the MOT I had to keep it in gear when parked.
After it was A OK.
This year on the MOT, it is 5% effective and failed again.
I don't need to keep it in gear this time, but am disappointed if the recon rear callipers are failing already, especially as I had the MOT done early so they were only 11 months old.
Maybe it's not the callipers, maybe it just needs new discs and pads and the centre cable adjusting, I know it should be 5-8 clicks and I can get 10.