Andrew Almenar has been quietly working since January in the former Melt Bar and Grilled space in Lakewood. In early June, he will open Speed Trap Racing (14718 Detroit Ave.), the region’s first racing simulator venue. The entertainment destination is built around the industry’s most advanced equipment and technology, designed and built by SimXperience in Akron specifically to train racecar drivers. “There was a feeling I had when I sat down in a simulator for the first time,” Almenar explains. “There is so much to learn and like about motorsports and the simulators give you a path to that.” Almenar has been working towards this goal for years, searching for the ideal location to showcase his efforts. He likens the concept to golf sims in that they are the closest thing one can get to the real thing short of hitting the links or slipping into the cockpit of a stock car. “I see the concept as being very similar to the golf-simulator concept,” he says. “The technology for a lot of things has gotten hyper-realistic. In the motorsport world, all of the drivers on every race team in every discipline have these professionally built racing simulators to practice on and get better on.” The second dining room now features four racing rigs, all-in-one units where you sit in a bucket seat, grab the wheel, and operate foot pedals and paddle shifters. The cockpits boast actuators, “butt kickers,” G-Force seats, G Belts and wraparound screens that mimic the sounds, sights and tactile feel of racing. “This is not an arcade,” Almenar explains. “You’re going to feel the car; you’re going to feel the tires slipping out behind you. When you’re on the highway, you can feel a car coming up next to you. In a simulator, it’s the exact same