TRIBUTES HAVE BEEN paid to former MythBusters co-presenter Jessi Combs, who has died during an attempt to break a land-speed record in the US.

The 39-year-old, who was also a professional racer, was killed while trying to become the world’s fastest woman in the Alvord Desert in the western state of Oregon.

Details of the crash were not revealed, but Combs’ family confirmed the news in a statement.

“Jessi’s most notable dream was to become the fastest woman on Earth, a dream she had been chasing since 2012,” it read.

“Combs was one of the rare dreamers with the bravery to turn those possibilities into reality, and she left this earth driving faster than any other woman in history.”

Combs appeared in twelve episodes of the seventh season of MythBusters, a science entertainment show broadcast by Discovery, while one co-host Kari Byron was on maternity leave.

Paying tribute, another Mythbusters co-host Adam Savage said he was saddened by the news and that Combs encouraged others “by her prodigious example”.

Byron also expressed her regret at the news, and said that Combs was someone who was “always pushing limits”.

Combs, nicknamed ‘The Fastest Woman on Four Wheels’, had documented her attempt to beat the 824km/h women’s land-speed record, set by American Kitty O’Neil in 1976.

In a social media post this week she said she was hoping to achieve greatness.

“It may seem a little crazy to walk directly into the line of fire,” she said. “Those who are willing, are those who achieve great things. People say I’m crazy. I say thank you.”