Read the new rules again? Try reading the old rules that are not amended by the new ones.
From "U: Karting"
2.5.5. The track edges must be marked in an MSA approved manner.
12.5.4. Where a Driver consistently drives with a wheel off the track or leaves the track, this may be deemed driving in a manner incompatible with general safety and the Driver may be excluded from the race at the discretion of the Clerk of the Course.
The track licence will lay down the MSA approved designation of the track. From memory it states that there must not be a "step down" between the track surface and the surrounding surface for 18 inches, which is why most tracks have a white line 18 inches from the outside edge of the tarmac, since it is unreasonable to expect there to be no differenece in height between the roadway and the grass. Anything outside the white line is not on the track, unless specifically included in the licence. I believe that some tracks don't have the white lines all around the track in which case the border between tarmac and 'kerb' is designated.
So the moment one wheel goes over the outside edge of the white line or the line between tarmac and kerb where so defined in the licence, then 12.5.4 applies FOR KARTING. Note that 12.5.4 is not leaving the track
This was one of the points brought up in the white paper consultation, that there was a 'Murray Walker" effect where young drivers heard about "making your vehicle as wide as possible" or "skillfully driving one's opponent off the course' or 'blocking' from TV commentary, all the manouevres being illegal.
Someone in the MSA / Media took notice, because you are far more likely now to hear about "skillful wheel to wheel without contact", "real drivers leaving room" and "taking a defensive line", even in the "bash'em to beat'em" of BTCC.
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