ONLINE retailer dabs.com is backing wind power. The Wingates company has announced a sponsorship deal to become official IT and Technology Supplier to Windjet, the British team which aims to break the world speed records for land, ice and water using wind power alone.

The company is already a backer of Starchaser, the British hopefuls in the "X-Prize" race to launch the first commercial passenger rocket into space.

Jonathan Wall, Sales and Marketing Director at dabs.com, said: "Like Windjet, Dabs has a reputation for pushing technological boundaries to be the best in our field, so this sponsorship deal is a perfect fit for our business."

Windjet's project to break three long-established world speed records for vehicles powered by wind only follows five years of testing and development.

During 2002 and 2003, the team will launch a three-pronged attack on land, ice and water to bring the world records home to Britain.

Richard Jenkins, Windjet's Project Director and Pilot, said: "The record challenges are just the tip of the iceberg.

"This sponsorship from dabs.com will revolutionise many parts of the project from on-board electronics to back office management, essential to the efficient running of the campaign.

"Using the equipment, the team have been able to facilitate the new Supporters' Club, through which we hope to involve as many people in the project as possible."

The first of Windjet's record-breaking attempts will be a challenge to the world land speed record, currently held by American duo Bob Schumacher and Bob Dill, whose craft 'Iron Duck' clocked up 116.7 mph (187.8 km/h) in March 1999.

The sponsorship agreement sees dabs.com supply the Windjet team with a range of IT and technology products to help them run their world record challenge campaign.

They include laptops, software, networking products and electronic data storage units for the Windjet craft.