For the past couple of years, with no ABS, I've been on 225/50-16 fronts with 245/45-16 rears. Generally running the same pads all around (XP8/XP8, HP+/HP+, AP1/AP1), but on one occasion I was on XP8/AP1, and on another on HP+/AP1.

With XP8s or HP+ up front with OEM AP1 rears, the front lockup was borderline excessive. I definitely prefer the behavior of the car on the same track pads all around. I haven't tried XP10/XP8, as I've been pretty happy with the balance with the same pads front/rear.

 

It'd be interesting to see your impressions if you went to a nonstaggered tire setup. And to see if your lap time decreased if you went to an ABS setup. I bought a used ABS sensor off the for sale forum for $20 last time I broke one.

 

To tell the truth, I prefer not having the ABS. In my times trial class, I haven't really had any competition (few competitors in SSA, and when they do show up they're not really in the hunt). Loss of ABS doesn't seem to have affected my lap times relative to benchmarks in the club.

Particularly with track pads up front and OEM pads in back, moculating the brakes and getting lockup adds to the workload, but I like to keep brake modulation skills in practice.

I also prefer to not have ABS on the street, so in the snow I can lock them at my own discretion.

Long/short, I don't really want ABS, I'll probably only replace the sensor when I'm ready to sell the car.

Regarding staggered vs. non-staggered, I've driven the car with as much stagger as 1.5" (205F, 245R) and as little as 0.5" (225F/245R VictoRacers), and IMO the change in handling balance, under braking and elsewhere, was noticeable, but not a huge deal.

As far as tire contact patch under hard braking, the fronts are going to have more no matter what the stagger is anyway, due to the fronts having on the order of twice the load on them as the rears. For sure under maximum braking, the grip bias is toward the front even with huge stagger.