Strange as it may seem, disk brakes were first invented in England in the 1890s; the first ever being patented by Frederick William Lancaster in his Birmingham factory in 1902, though it took another half century for his innovation to be widely adopted.
Modern style disk brakes first appeared on the low volume Crosley Hot Shot in 1949, although they had to be discontinued in 1950 due to design problems. Chrysler's Imperial division also offered a type of disk brake from 1949 through 1953, though in this instance they were enclosed with duel internal-expanding, full circle pressure plates. Reliable modern disk brakes were developed in the UK by Dunlap and first appeared on the Jaguar C-Type racing car.The Citroen DS of 1955, with powered inboard front disk brakes, and the 1955 Triumph TR3 were the first European production cars to feature modern disk brakes.The next American production cars to feature modern disk brakes were the 1963 Studebaker Avant, the 1965 Rambler Marlin and the 1965 Chevrolet Corvette Stingray.
Many early implementations for automobiles located the brakes on the inboard side of the drive axles, near the differential to reduce unsprung weight. Most today are located inside the wheels. Due to the unsprung weight, race cars favor mostly from the inboard design.
I think we owe the Britt's a debt of gratitude for giving us a better braking system witch also includes the Brabham racing team in conjunction with Dunlap, for their contribution of the carbon fiber disks used in race cars. They are not suitable for the normal passenger car as they require a tremendous amount of heat build up to work properly. The new ceramics are more suited for everyday driving.