Michael,
I asked my buddy with the Mark V what he did for a parking brake, he said "what parking brake, this is a race car"
The Mark V has a hand parking brake lever that acts directly on the brake pedal assembly. No cable going to the back and no extra mechanicals at the rear. A lot lighter and a lot less complicated.
It depends what you want. An emergency brake or a parking brake. Modern cars today have a parking brake, the backup in the system is accomplished by the separated hydraulics for front and rear or more typical recently the diagonal split.
The hand lever/mechanical system typically doesn't have enough power to stop very effectively with today's weight/speed/power.
The diagonal split hydraulics is better than the front/rear split because it always leaves you with at least one front brake (more power), although it complicates a brake balance adjustment.
One consideration to the Mark V system would be getting by those states that have a vehicle inspection. The wilwood techs hesitation is odd because the spot caliper is all they offer for an "emergency" brake. Maybe it doesn't meet DOT specs or something?
[ February 21, 2002: Message edited by: Kalun D ]