MOTOR

Tony Smith finds Detroit rejuvenated and running high on excitement, fuelled by a passion for sport and music

IT may seem like the last thing you’d do in Motor City – but pedalling a bike around Detroit is the perfect way to see its transformation.

Even though, at first, you might think: What transformation?

The Dequindre Cut, a disused railway line from the river to the Eastern Market and city, is covered in graffiti. And there are scores of derelict buildings.

But look closer and you’ll see the street artworks are commissioned murals – and those buildings have already been snapped up and are being turned into offices, shops and apartments.

The city really is back after decades of decay followed by bankruptcy in 2013.

Nowhere is this more apparent than downtown. A brand new Little Caesars Arena is home to both the city’s basketball team, the Pistons, and ice hockey team the Red Wings.

It’s just half a mile from The Tigers’ Comerica Park baseball ground which backs on to Ford Field, home to the Lions American Football team.

Detroit is the only city in America that boasts four professional sports teams within five blocks of each other.

I managed to catch the Lions hosting the Carolina Panthers and the 15-year-old, 65,000-seat stadium sees some very excited fans. Microphones measure the Lions’ fans’ roar, and at one point it hit a deafening 116 decibels. The razzmatazz is infectious and the three-hour game time flew by. Passions run high here, and Detroiters love their college football too. I was lucky enough to grab a ticket to see the fiercest rivalry in the city, Michigan v Michigan State at Ann Arbor on the outskirts of the metropolis.

The Wolverines and the Spartans went at eac h other in front of 112,452 at the Big House. There were probably just as many fans who didn’t go to the game but pitched up to the homes and golf course by the stadium for tailgate parties leading up to kick-off.

Monster pick-up trucks had hauled the fans’ own marquees, generators, barbecues, sound systems and enough beer to sink an aircraft carrier. Torrential second

The Lions fans roar hit a deafening 116 decibels