Radials definitely need heat. Too much and they don't stick too little and they don't stick. I would regularly pull mid to low 1.8s on street tires once I figured out how much heat to put into the tires.
I wouldn't fill out a police report. That will get you a bad carfax indicator most likely painting is the only option to fix that and it's not anywhere near 2k worth of work.
Vette s are great. I thought I would miss my 15 gt pp, but that didn't happen. I've put 10k on my car this year. I'm thinking I might find a 13 zr1 or maybe a 17 zo6 next. There is just something about a 3300lb car with 600hp. The vette puts power down pretty damn good too.
I used to run 17x8 bullitts with bias ply rears on my 95 cobra with a vortech. It definitely will sway at lower pressures. But with a little over 400 rwhp i could get into the high 1.5s