I know little about brakes... However, we are looking at alternative brakes (from Cleveland) to save weight on the RV-3, and 99% likely to use
Beringer - who not only do aircraft brakes, but also motor sport.
Firstly, their aircraft discs do
not have holes.
Secondly, they were keen for us to use the "high energy" brakes for an RV. We will not, since it negates the weight savings, so might as well use Cleveland. What is of interest is that their standard brakes have Energy Absorbtion
significantly better than the Cleveland (144K ftlb v 117.5K). Now look at
FAR 23.735 and my calcs show all OK for an RV-3.
But for the 2 seat RVs, I reckon the standard Cleveland brakes do
not meet FAR 23.735.
This is not an issue for those who use brakes sparingly. Those who post videos on here

showing "short landing runs" that are really an exercise in how hard one can press the brake pedals (rather than showing a decent approach and landing technique) might be in for a nasty surprise
So then drilling holes on the discs just reduces this energy abosrbtion (KE) value further, as well as the torque available
My suggesiton would be, if you want light brakes, do it properly and get a lighter set than the Cleveland, but use as designed. I suspect when you see the price, you might decide to stick with Cleveland though
