"Would I be penalised by the msa for participation in non msa racing?"
The short answer is 'No'.
For example, there is no way that the MSA could penalise people for taking part in a hire-and-drive event such as is available at Buckmore, Llandow, Clay, Mansell, etc, etc yet these are non-MSA racing events, even if they are sometimes described as 'time trials' for administrative purposes.
There was a regulation that suggested that competitors could be punished for taking part in a non-MSA meeting but if I remember correctly this was a badly drafted wording which from its place in the Blue Book was more about knowingly taking part in an event that was not legal, ie an event that claimed to be an MSA event but did not meet the requirements. (So the organisers couldn't say "We don't have any ambulances but if you drivers are willing, we'll race anyway")
And yes, there are various people who have quoted it as an example of MSA stupidity or overbearing attitude.
It is often very difficult to write regulations that can be read by people who are not used to reading regulations and getting them to be understood.
The old chestnut used to be the overtaking regulation which stated that if you knew the kart behind was faster and was inside you at the entry to a corner, it had to be given right of way. Many people interpreted this as "given the racing line" whereas it actually meant "had only to be given enough room to stay on the track", a 1400 mm wide slot. Thus a kart that ran up the inside would have to slow down sufficiently to potentially stay in that lane and if it ran out on a racing line and collided with another kart, such as the one it was trying to overtake, it was at fault and should suffer any penalty.
The regulations now spell this out in detail, just as the rules on kerb riding have had to be spelled out in detail (two offences, not driving within the track; and unsafe driving requiring the repeated use of a 'safety zone' (kerb); to gain an advantage.)
The Non-MSA events at Clay are well separated from the MSA events and Lee's post above identifies that the reasons it is likely to be cheaper are all to do with driver costs,( eg, no ARKS test etc) not because they would cut corners with safety.
Why do the MSA events? Well one reason is that the MSA is the official authority for major sports events, so if you are driving in a national series, a 'multi-club series championship' then it has to have MSA approval and I suspect that that is written in some Act of Parliament, possibly grandfathered in from the days of the RAC, as well as FIA recognition.
And I suspect that if you are an unknown driver you will have to prove yourself to Lee / the organiser that you can get round the track without being a danger to others, either by showing you have got results from another track, have your MSA licence or doing some test laps.
And eventually, the MSA might accept that one should be able to be grandfathered in to a National B licence without the Arks test if a recognised, responsible track / event operator is prepared to sponsor you.
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