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For normal - even exuberant - road use, the standard brakes are fine, especially if fitted with uprated pads and linings. My key reference point here is rally use - I always rallied on standard discs, calipers and drums (but with well uprated linings) and never remotely had a problem. (Odd bit of smokey, but no fade) Another MGBGT owner here competed in the New Zealand Targa rally for 8 years on an identical set-up and also never had a problem. Both of us were very competitive, so the brakes had a hammering.
Racing on fast circuits certainly does require more, so again it's horses for courses.
I usually observe, that if you are wondering whether to uprate for road use, then forget it - if you drive that hard, you won't have a licence for long!
Notwithstanding the above, if you are still keen to upgrade your brakes, there are a number of options for doing so - it usually comes down to the money!
You shouldn't need to change your master cylinder - it should perform well with any upgrade of the rest of the system.
If you do not have a power brake unit (servo, booster etc), you might like to fit one. However, it does not improve braking as such, just makes the pedal easier to push for a given amount of braking. (Most competition cars don't run them). The main reason people fit power brakes is if they regularly drive a more modern car fitted with them, then the non-boosted brakes feel strange & disconcerting (notwithstanding the fact that they stop just as well!)
The simplest upgrade to the business end of the brakes involves fitting the MGBV8 disc rotors at the front, which are quite a bit thicker. To
accommodate the thicker rotors, a spacer needs to be inserted between the two halves of the
calliper to spread them apart..... with the appropriate seals of course. (The original factory V8
callipers are very difficult and very expensive to get.)
Either the V8 or standard MGB discs can be drilled to help cooling.
Next step is to fit 4 pot callipers at the front, The Austin Princess has 4 pot units which are a direct fit - nice & simple except they ere getting a bit hard to find.
From there, there are vented discs available in kit form including callipers
& mountings. Price for these (full kit for the two front wheels) is around $2500 NZD (depending on type).
Competition spec linings can be fitted to any of the options above to further improve performance.
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