A SUPERCAR emblazoned with the Bolton Wanderers badge smashing a world land speed record, and free scholarships for every Bolton University student are firmly in the sights of the Whites’ ambitious new local sponsors.

Wanderers scrapped their controversial deal with payday lender QuickQuid and turned to a firm called FibrLec.

The little known company was only set up in March to commercialise the Univ-ersity of Bolton’s innovative smart material, which produces electricity by harnessing the power of the sun as well as movement created by wind and rain.

The firm, which is run by brothers Dan and Dr Tony Keating, as well as Bolton lad Jamie MacGregor, says it hopes to “transform the energy business beyond recognition” and use profits to fund free places for every student at the university within five years.

Dr Keating and Mr MacGregor are both University of Bolton graduates.

The pair have a background in the power industry, having set up diesel generator firm Electromech Engineering Services in 1999, and Dr Keating, aged 40, has a passion for supercars.

Born in Bolton, he has developed a vehicle called “The Bolt”, which he hopes will break the world land speed record for a production car in October, a record which currently stands at 267mph.

It is the fourth car to be developed by another of the brothers’ firms, Astley-based Keating Supercars, which was founded in 2006, and contains a new supercharger he devised alongside university boffins. The record attempt will take place between Ras al-Khaimah and Dubai in the United Arab Emirates and following last week’s deal the car will now bear a Bolton Wanderers crest.

Dan Keating, aged 37, said: “We want to make FibrLec a brand and there’s nothing better than a football club.

“We want to promote FibrLec worldwide and if the university will be promoted along with that, then it’s an all-round good story.

“We want students to come to Bolton.”

The University of Bolton will have its name included on the Wanderers’ shirt, at no cost to the university, but FibrLec is staying tight lipped on how much its sponsorship of the Whites is worth.

One of its aims is to fund every University of Bolton place in five years, meaning no student would have to pay.

Dr George Holmes, Vice Chancellor of the univ-ersity, said: “That they’ve dedicated space on the shirt to the university is everything a Vice Chan-cellor dreams of. It’s a win all round.

“Wanderers have got their sponsor, the profile of the company has risen and there’s a feel-good factor around the university.”

It is the university’s tech-nology which the firm will be hoping to sell on the back of its sponsorship deal.

And Dr Holmes is in no doubt about the material’s potential.

He said: “If every lamppost had one of these banners on it creates an equal output to a nuclear power station.”

Mr Keating added: “We’ve got strong links with the town and we’re proud of being associated with such a great club.

“We want Bolton Wanderers to be successful and if we could see Bolton beating Manchester United in the Premier League wearing a FibrLec shirt that’d be fantastic.”