Porsche has always raced in a unique way. Under the company's model, motorsports is not just about winning but also about selling cars--whether the 906 in the '60s, 934s in the '70s, 962s in the '80s, 911 GT2s in the '90s or GT3 RSRs and RS Spyders in the present decade. Today, believe it or not, Porsche builds about 300 race cars a year.

Yet Porsche does not just sell cars in unprecedented numbers; it also provides unprecedented customer support around the world. At a race where the company is represented en masse, you will find a technical-support truck that also sells spare parts. Every other manufacturer that builds customer racing cars, whether sports cars or open-wheelers, seems to promise to provide Porsche-like support yet rarely does.

The late Richard Lloyd, who was successful with the 956/962 in the World Sports Car Championship in the '80s, remembered buying his first 956 in 1983. "It was just like buying a road car," he said. "We were taken to a big underground car park, shown to our car, handed a key and left to it. We drove the car into the truck and went off testing."

Porsche's customers have notched some of the marque's biggest successes. Five of its 16 wins in the 24 Hours of Le Mans came courtesy of privateer teams. The story was the same in the United States, where Al Holbert Jr. ran the factory-backed operation but independents such as Bob Akin, Bruce Leven and Dyson Racing all won races with the 962 in the old Camel IMSA GTP Championship.

In recent years, Dyson has gone up against the Penske factory-development team in the LMP2-prototype class, and Farnbacher Loles Racing competes against factory-backed Flying Lizard Motor-sports. Series, teams and drivers come and go, rule books are rewritten, and the cars change shape, but Porsche's motorsports philosophy remains largely unchanged.