The Porsche 936 was built to compete in the World Sportscar Championship as well as at 1976 24 Hours of Le Mans under the Group 6 formula, which it won both of.

In the first outings, the Martini Racing car was still black,[1] and the engine cover behind the roll bar was flat.

[2] So a few 936s were pulled out of the Porsche museum in Stuttgart, redesigned to create the 936/81 and entered as 2 official works entries for the 1981 Le Mans 24 Hours.

The successor Porsche 956 was introduced in 1982 after the new 2650 cc engine designed for Indycar was tested in the 1981 winning chassis 003 which was sponsored by Jules, a Christian Dior fragrance for men.

Thus, in an attempt to conform to the new Group C regulations, both teams built new bodyshapes that incorporated a roof onto their 936-replicas.

Porsche did not intend to sell the 936 to customers, wanting them instead to use the 935 (which occupied the first four places at Le Mans in 1979), and the old 908 which were still around, updated to turbo engines and new 936-like aerodynamics.