Speed Trials are Insufficient Motive
Only Sir Arthur C Clarke was prepared to hint in the BBC documentary on Orion to the “Interstellar” aspirations of the project at the time. However the initial intentions of the Orion Project to travel purely within our solar system would suffice because the arrival at this capability would automatically allow high speed tests to be undertaken at will.
Speed Trials are Insufficient Motive continued
However speaking as an economist the enormous funding required for such a project might not be forthcoming unless an underlying aspiration to open fertile territories beyond our star were at least a minor possibility.