On 24/07/18 10:12, NY wrote:

Braking the engine when it is transmitting power to the wheels will lead
to a "fight" between brakes and engine, with the risk that the energy
that the engine is generating will heat up brakes too much. If you have
an engine generating maybe 100 hp, you've got to dissipate that sort of
energy in the brakes.

That is why you would press ~hard~ and sustain.

What is the effect of the discs heating up
dramatically: can it cause loss of braking force? They did mention
something about "burning out the brakes" which was the reason for
contemplating using the "emergency brake" instead, as if that magically
used different pads and wouldn't be affected in exactly the same way by
brake heating.

Normally the brakes only disperse kinetic and potential energy which are
inherently limited so it usually doesn't matter how you load them.
Against the engine, cautious braking allows the engine to keep the
energy topped up. Also, if your delay allows the speed to rise you've
created a bigger problem than you had to start with.